EXCLUSIVE — As the 51st annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., approached, Michael Burbidge, the bishop of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, highlighted ways to help mothers keep their babies and expand a “culture of life … so that abortion never even has to be considered a possibility.”

The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the United States, and for decades, it has been active in the movement to end abortion using its vast network of charities and advocates not only to push for policy change but also to provide aid to pregnant women who need help both during and after their pregnancy.

But since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the new opportunities for conservatives to restrict abortion have not produced results at the ballot box amid effective messaging from those who support legal abortion. Burbidge said in order to guide more people to “embrace the pro-life position,” advocates need to “transform hearts.”

“We know we have the truth: All of life is sacred and must be protected. But we have to find new and loving ways of communicating that truth,” Burbidge, who is the chairman of the Pro-Life Activities Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

Burbidge explained that the way to do that is by both “defending the life of the most vulnerable, the unborn child in the womb,” and by helping young mothers who need resources such as counseling, food, clothing, medical aid, and emotional support, “so that they have every reason to embrace life.”

He mentioned several ministries and programs aimed at helping women through pregnancy and raising children, including the Gabriel Project, which the Bishop said provides hundreds of thousands of diapers to mothers who cannot afford them. Programs also include free-of-charge medical care, prenatal care, and counseling through various organizations.

Another initiative called Project Rachel offers “compassionate support from trained staff, priests and licensed mental health professionals who understand the experience of unresolved sorrow, trauma and grief,” the website says.

“After they made that very harmful decision, and the toll that it takes on them emotionally, spiritually, and physically, we’re not going to abandon them, we’re going to be there at that time of need, too,” Burbidge said.

Similar organizations, such as crisis pregnancy centers, have drawn the ire of liberals who have attempted to shut them down or cut their funding.

Some supporters of legal abortion claim crisis pregnancy centers, which do not offer the procedure, push misinformation or use false advertising on women with unplanned pregnancies. Despite that, pregnancy centers and ministries are part of an expanding “pro-life safety net” that advocates consider essential to the workability of abortion restrictions, the Washington Examiner reported. Since the overturn of Roe, pregnancy centers have received more than $250 million in tax dollars, mostly from conservative states.

The Bishop said rejecting attempts by supporters of legal abortion to paint abortion opponents as extreme for their views is an important piece of the puzzle. That includes countering messaging from the other side of the issue pushes that suggests women who keep an unplanned pregnancy will face a life of hardship.

“It can be overwhelming and it can be emotional,” Burbidge said of women with unexpected pregnancies. “They say, ‘Oh my goodness, how am I going to do this?’ Especially if someone’s alone. And we’re saying, ‘No, you’ll never be alone.’”

Messaging is a key component of fighting to limit abortion, Burbidge said.

“We have the truth, but we have to be smart enough to know that our messaging has to be communicated to confront these falsehoods that they’re putting out there — that anyone who stands up for life is, you know, irrational, radical, or intolerant,” he continued. “No, we’re for life because it is sacred, because we love the mother, we love the child.”

Republicans have struggled to find their footing on abortion messaging since Dobbs, as they have seen multiple defeats on ballot initiatives and electing anti-abortion candidates. That has caused the party and its nonprofit allies to search for a winning strategy on the issue — without sacrificing the core principle of opposing the procedure. The search has included figuring out what kind of messaging is most persuasive, as well as exploring proposals like a 15-week abortion restriction, which is not ultimately popular among anti-abortion conservatives but is viewed as a more realistic goal in electoral politics.

As thousands of people flock to the nation’s capital this week to participate in the March for Life, the majority of whom are religious, Burbidge said supporters of the movement should also focus efforts on expanding the message on abortion to non-religious people.

“When that belief is not there, it’s much more challenging. But at the same time, we know that the truth that all of life is sacred because it is from God is also supported by reason, by science,” he said. “One of the most powerful ways that people move away from choosing abortion to choosing life is through ultrasounds. If you look at an ultrasound and you see the heart beat and you see a child being formed in the womb, you don’t have to be religious to be in awe of that.”

Burbidge called Dobbs “a victory” that represents “only the beginning” of the fight to limit abortion, particularly as some states expand access to the procedure.

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Last year, Ohio voters passed a ballot initiative that enshrined abortion access into the state constitution while superseding a heartbeat bill that restricted the procedure to about six weeks. This year, at least 11 other states could see similar initiatives on their ballots.

Burbidge noted that Catholics were among the voters who supported ballot initiatives expanding abortion access, saying abortion opponents have to “outspend” and “outstrategize” supporters of legal abortion.